Hands on the Wheel: Experiencing the Tata Hexa

As you might be aware frommy
previous post, I was in Hyderabad last weekend to experience the Tata
Hexa. The brand new SUV from Tata Motors that goes with the tagline
‘Power-packed, Feature-loaded, Adrenaline-pumped’, is definitely a vehicle that
is going to set new standards for the competition in the growing mid-range SUV
segment. This post details my driving experience of the Tata Hexa over 45 kms
of roads early one Sunday morning.

The Drive

Our 170 km drive was to begin
from the Novotel Hotel, Hyderabad Airport. The route to be taken began on the
airport road that connects with the Hyderabad-Bangalore 8-lane highway for
about 11 kms, followed by a brief stretch of 4-lane divided road and finally a
40 km stretch of undivided 2-lane road.

When we were briefed about this
the previous evening, I had decided I would take up the initial bit- the safe
zone of the highway, considering how narrow roads make me nervous. It didn’t
take me long to convince my team mates Arvind Sir and Sam.

Early Sunday morning, the flag
off happened and the drive began. Getting used to the automatic setting didn't
take me more than a minute, although it was the first time that I was driving
an automatic gear-shift car. Getting used to the bulk of the car did take me
some time, although the bulkiness of the car wasn’t felt. I didn't just drive
through the airport road and the highway but also a few kilometres in the
2-lane undivided road. And this was with absolute ease in the various drive
modes. For the first time in all these years probably I had enjoyed driving a
car so much and didn’t want to give the driving seat to others! Hahaha!

Sports and Auto-sensing Race Car Performance modes

The automatic version of the Hexa
boasts of a 'sports' mode- effectively it is similar to the 'nitro booster’
from Road Rash- and I was
prompted to use it as much as possible. So while Arvind Sir and Sam on the
backseats were having serious afterthoughts about having let me drive (probably
due to my dangerous turns), I was having an absolutely 'I am the king' feeling
with the race car mode on.

Atul, the representative from
Tata Motors accompanying and guiding us, kept assuring that there was nothing
to worry with the sharp turns and sudden breaks- the car is built to withstand
it all and we should try it out. He prompted me to touch 170 kmph on the
highway. Considering it was early morning, the road was almost empty and I did
manage to clock 165 kmph in the race car mode.

The auto-sensing race car mode
can be activated when you are already at a high speed and want to accelerate
further. Just leave the accelerator completely and immediately re-press it. The
race car mode automatically gets activated (and you can actually feel the boost
in power).

As we took the exit from the
highway, the speedometer was still around 100 and at the end of the turn I
spotted a queue of vehicles at the toll. I applied the brakes and the car very
smoothly came to a halt- no jerks, no tension. I was impressed!

We intentionally didn't avoid the
potholes, but the effect was hardly noticed inside the vehicle (Even in the
backseat).

Further down the road, we tested
the sports mode even more while overtaking. Overtakes that would be absolutely
impossible or too risky to undertake otherwise, the Hexa's sports mode did with
absolute ease.

Features worth mentioning

Taking the middle seat, the
coolest feature in sight was the exclusive sun
blinds on the rear windows. No more playing around with suctions to avoid
those harsh sunrays. The air-conditioning
vents seemed abundant even in the middle and back seats, along with USB charging points.

In the manual variant, we tried
the various Super Drive Modes the
Hexa boasts of- Auto, Comfort, Dynamic and Rough Road. The difference was
definitely felt.

Ambient mood lighting in the car was another impressive feature. As
per your preferred drive mode, the lights can change colour, or as per your
mood you can set a colour.

'Can they change colours as per the beats of the music played?' I
asked half-expectantly.

‘No. It would make it a psychedelic car!’ came the amused reply.

The music system is perhaps one of
the best I have ever seen. With 10 JBL
branded speaker system that you can pan around as per your need from front
to back, driver to passenger- this is absolutely brilliant.

The noise and vibration cancellation is amazing inside the car and the
interiors are definitely highly spacious.

Mood lighting in the Tata Hexa. (Picture Courtesy: Press Kit)

The cruise mode

A brilliant feature of the Hexa while
you are perhaps lazy to control the car for too long on a smooth stretch is the
cruise control mode. You can set the cruise speed by the tap of a button on the
steering wheel at your current speed and leave the accelerator and brake and
relax. The car will continue cruising at the same speed until you press the
accelerator or brake. More importantly, if you want to increase or decrease the
cruise speed, you can do it by toggling the switch that changes the speed by 2
kmph per toggle.

Thank you Sam for the click!

The off-road experience

Once done with the drive, we were
taken for the off-road experience of the Hexa. Although the track was
artificially created, the task in hand wasn't easy. Only a Tata representative
did the driving in this part. The car was taken through deep ditches (where one
wheel was suspended in the air but the car didn't feel nervous and easily moved
on), on steep side inclines, 60 degree uphill climb (activating the Hill Hold
Control), steep downhill blind turns (with Hill Descent Control), on an ice
sheet (seamless movement of the wheels) and more. The car easily brakes in
about 20 yards even in superbly rough roads without flipping over.

The Hill Hold Control (HHC) and
Hill Descent Control (HDC) are probably life saviours for all of us who get
stuck on inclines and the engine oozes off. The HHC automatically activates so
as to prevent the car from sliding backwards while on an incline, while one has
to switch on the HDC.

During our drive of the car
earlier in the day, I did get a chance to drive it through a puddle of water
through rocks on a patch of grassland. This moment gave me complete freedom to
experiment with the off-roading capability of the car. The Hexa didn’t disappoint
us. It would be an understatement to say that the power packed abilities of the
car to turn, accelerate and brake, actually impressed us although after a
highly adrenaline rushed adventure moment for Sam and me- the former videographing
the latter who was driving.

Who should buy?

The Hexa is definitely a car for
long drives on-road and for off-roading. Adventure seekers would love this one.
You would feel you are torturing the car if you take it on your drive to work
in the city traffic, although the car would perform amazingly. It is a
‘lifestyle vehicle’ that doesn’t just look aspirational and stylish, its
19-inch alloy wheels make you feel like the king on the road.

And for people like me, who get
nervous holding the gear-shift in hand, the automatic variant of the Hexa is
absolute brilliance. No wonder, my reaction after getting out of the driver
seat was 'I just had the smoothest and
most amazing drive experience of my life'.

Tata Motors and Indiblogger
invited me to Hyderabad to experience driving the Hexa as part of a bloggers
drive. All views and opinions in the post are completely personal. I am not an
automobile expert and everything in this post is based on my driving of the
car.